The Fifth Victim. BEVERLY BARTON

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СКАЧАТЬ you have any idea where he is?”

      “I might.”

      “Would you mind telling me?”

      Jazzy sighed. “He came by to see me at Jazzy’s Joint. We talked. I told him to get lost. And Jamie being Jamie, he didn’t take it well, so he latched on to the nearest woman he could find to make me jealous.”

      “He picked up someone in the bar?”

      “That’s right.”

      “Do you know—”

      “I think her name was April or Amber. She’s been in a few times, but I don’t know her personally. I’d say he’s probably with her.”

      “Thank you, Jazzy. And … I’m sorry.”

      “Sorry for waking me?”

      “Yes, that, too, but mostly sorry that Jamie never had the backbone to stand up to his grandmother and marry you despite her protests.”

      Jazzy was silent for several minutes. “Tell that new fiancée of his to run as far and as fast as she can.”

      The dial tone buzzed in Big Jim Upton’s ear.

      Jacob had sacked out on the cot in his office at the courthouse instead of going home. After tossing and turning for nearly an hour, he’d finally fallen asleep sometime after midnight. When the ruckus outside his office door woke him, he punched the button on his digital watch to light the face. Four-twelve.

      “I want to see Jacob right now!” a man’s voice shouted.

      “But he’s sleeping,” Deputy Tewanda Hardy informed the irate man. “He’s worn to a frazzle.”

      “Dammit, woman, get out of my way. I need to talk to Jacob.”

      Jacob lifted himself into a sitting position on the edge of the cot, ran his hand over his face, yawned heavily, and rose to his feet. He’d recognized the man’s voice. Mayor Jerry Lee Todd. What the hell had put Jerry Lee into such a panic?

      By the time Jacob took a couple of steps, the office door swung open and Jerry Lee stormed into the room, Tewanda hot on his heels.

      “Sorry, Jacob,” Tewanda said, “but the mayor insisted on seeing you immediately.”

      “It’s all right,” he told his deputy. Tewanda was his only female deputy and one of the best, if not the best, he had. She was taking courses at UTC in Knoxville to get her degree, so he arranged her schedule so she could work nights. Her dream was to become a lawyer, and Jacob had no doubt she’d make a good one. Already she knew as much about the law as he did. Maybe more.

      “You’ve got to help me,” Jerry Lee said.

      “What’s wrong?” When Tewanda flipped on the overhead light in Jacob’s office, he took a good look at the mayor. The guy looked like death warmed over. Drenched to the skin, his face red from exposure to the frigid temperatures and his hair plastered to his balding head, he was a sorry sight, downright pathetic. Jacob glanced past Jerry Lee to Tewanda, who lifted her hand to her lips repeatedly in a gesture that told him she believed the mayor was drunk.

      “Have you been drinking?” Jacob asked.

      “Yes, I’ve been drinking,” he replied. “I was out at Big Jim’s for a welcome-home party for Jamie tonight and I had a couple of glasses of champagne. And then I had a few sips of Scotch at the house, to warm myself up. But I’m not drunk.” He whirled around and glared at Tewanda. “I’m upset, dammit, not drunk.”

      “Whatever you say, Mayor Todd.” Tewanda rolled her eyes toward the ceiling.

      “Would you mind leaving us? I need to speak to Jacob alone,” Jerry Lee said.

      Without another word, Tewanda turned and exited the office, but she left the door open. Jerry Lee kicked the door closed behind her.

      “Women shouldn’t be deputies,” Jerry Lee said.

      “Want to tell me what’s going on?” Jacob crossed his arms over his chest. “It’s four o’clock in the morning. What couldn’t wait until a decent hour?”

      “Cindy’s missing.”

      “What?”

      Jerry Lee rubbed his closed eyelids with his fingertips. “She left the party early. Caught a ride with the new doctor and his wife.” He opened his eyes and stared toward Jacob, but his gaze was unfocused as he continued explaining. “I’ve talked to them. They said they dropped her off on their way home, around nine forty-five. I got home a little after eleven and she wasn’t there.”

      “Any reason why she would have left you?” Jacob asked, knowing full well that half the town had heard about Cindy and Jerry Lee’s marital brawls.

      “She didn’t leave me. All her stuff is still at the house. Whenever she takes off for a few days, she always packs a couple of bags. Nothing’s missing.”

      “Maybe she spent the night with a friend.” Jacob purposely didn’t mention the friend’s gender. Cindy had a reputation for sleeping around and had cheated on Jerry Lee with at least half a dozen men—maybe more—during their six-year marriage.

      “She never stays out all night with any of her friends. She’s always home by this time of the morning.” Jerry Lee slumped down in one of the two chairs facing Jacob’s desk. The man aged ten years right before Jacob’s eyes. “I know what you’re thinking. You believe she’s gone off with some man, but I tell you she hasn’t.”

      Jacob walked over and placed his hand on Jerry Lee’s shoulder. “How can you be so sure?”

      “Her latest is that Carson guy. You know, the wannabe actor/director who’s in charge of the town’s little theater.” Jerry Lee entwined his fingers and popped his knuckles. “I called him and he wouldn’t talk to me, so I went over to his apartment. He finally admitted that she’d been there last night, but swore she’d left before eleven.”

      Jacob wanted to feel sorry for Jerry Lee, but he couldn’t. He’d brought a lot of this misery on himself. He’d married the wrong woman, refused to let her go, then had taken out his misery on her and everyone else around him.

      “Give me a list of her friends,” Jacob said. “Around six I’ll make a few phone calls.”

      “She’s not with any of her friends. I’m telling you, she’s in trouble. I feel it”—he punched his stomach with his closed fist—“in here. We’ve got ourselves a killer running loose in Cherokee County—”

      “Don’t go jumping to conclusions. Cindy’s probably just fine and she’ll show up at home in a few hours.”

      “Do you really think so?”

      Jacob nodded.

      “I want to fill out a missing person’s report,” Jerry Lee said. “And if she doesn’t come home, I want you to—”

      “If she isn’t home by noon today, СКАЧАТЬ